The Forest of Blood and Snow
by RosetheWolfgirl
Summary: A house where it always snows even though it is July. Mai knows about the new case but doesn't want to tell Naru about it. She fears that if she tells anyone that something terrible will happen. She doesn't want to go. To see the blood. To see the snow. To find the bodies hidden in the snow. She sense that she may become the next victim in the forest of blood and snow. M for gore.
1. Chapter 1

_White tiny specks sprinkling the foggy white sky. Everywhere is white. Unnaturally white. Unnaturally cold._

_Mai's eyes flickered opened as a white speck landed on her face leaving the feeling of cold behind. It felt _

_like it was burning her. Too cold to the touch. " where am I" she was just in the SPR office sitting at her _

_desk filling paperwork for her idiot scientist of a boss Naru…. and now…Mai suddenly realized she was _

_lying down in the ground and that it was too cold of weather for the month of July. She sat up and _

_gasped at the sight around her. Snow…snow everywhere. Snowy trees. Snowy forest. She was all alone in _

_the forest of ice and snow. She shivered as she wrapped her arms around her. She stood up and began _

_walking towards somewhere. Her foot caught something hard and she fell face first in the snow. "Way to _

_go Mai" she put her hands underneath her to push herself off from the ground when she looked at the _

_snow under her. Red. Red and white. Red and cold. Red and sticky. She froze and she turned her head to _

_look at what tripped her. A hand was sticking out of the ground. A tiny hand. A child's hand covered in _

_the red and white. Covered in blood and snow. She backed away now shivering from the cold and from _

_fear. She bumped into something. She turned and gasped. She had backed into a tree. A tree with a snow _

_covered skeleton giving Mai a dead look. A skeleton with red and white splattered on it. She rose quickly _

_and ran away from the bodies only to stop as she saw more bodies sticking out of the ground. More pure_

_white snow. More red splattered cold. Her world started to spin as she heard the words of many _

_speaking to her all at once __**"Blood and snow" …"Blood and snow" …"Blood and snow" …Blood and **_

_**snow" "Mai" "Blood and snow"… "Blood and snow" …."Mai!" "Blood and snow"…"Mai!"**_She jumped

from her seat as her eyes slowly flickered open revealing the office around her and cold blue eyes

glaring at her as he sat on the edge of her desk. Naru glared at Mai but the glare softened as she saw the

look on if face. Fear.

"Did something happen while you slept" he asked coolly.

Her eyes never meet his as she smiled cheerfully "Nope!" " Sorry Naru, won't happen again".

He noticed her fake smile and glared at her. "Mai…"

"Yeah... I know make tea" She said before he could open his mouth. She got up and speed walked into

the kitchen and began to make tea. She didn't notice the black clothed teen leaning on the doorframe

waiting for her to turn around. Mai just stood there waiting for the tea to be done. "Earlier, what was

with that dream" she thought as her eyes were fixated at the window. It was sunny outside and hot. Not cold

and raining down snow. Snow. White snow. Red snow. Bloody snow. Bloody cold. Blood and snow.

"Mai"! His stern voice broke through her train of thought as she spun to look at Naru who was pointing

at the kettle while eyes fixed on Mai. "The tea is ready Mai".

"Oh... Y-yes" she stuttered as she raced to the kettle and turned off the stove. She opened the cabinet

and picked out a cup. She hurriedly poured the tea in the cup and walked in to Naru. She tried to walk

past him but she felt her jacket being tugged backwards. She turned to look at Naru who was sipping his

tea while holding on to the hoodie of her thin jacket glaring at her.

"Is there something on your mind, Mai" he asked still holding on to her hoodie. He tugged it again when

she didn't respond quick enough.

"Oh...um…Nope… nope nothing at all" she said trying to not look at his eyes. If she did, she knows that

she will tell him everything. Her eyes were drawn to his dark blue eyes. The office

was silent for a while as the teens stood their making eye contact. Lin even stopped typing to look at the

teens. They stared at each other like they were having a staring contest. Mai would have lost because

she blinked away and she turned to look at the clock. 9:00 pm. She gasped and tugged away from Naru

as he finally let go from her hoodie.

"I..have ..t-to go… bye Lin …bye Naru... and she gathered her things as quickly as possible and hurried

out the door. Naru and Lin exchanged looks as Naru gave one last glare at the door and headed back to

his office while Lin continued typing. "Idiot" was the last word that was said in the office that day before

everyone left.


	2. The Case of Snow

_Snow…everywhere…so white...so cold… so bloody. Mai found herself standing in the middle of the forest watching the snow fall from the cold sky. She wrapped her arms around her as she shivered. "This dream…not again…" She started walking through the forest wanting to get out of the snow. Usually Mai loved the snow but this snow seemed unfriendly. So different. So sickening. She started walking faster not wanting to stay here any longer. Then something hit her head with a sickening crack. She fell in the snow with a gasp. She felt dazed…so much pain… Her vision began to blur as she saw a pair of black fuzzy snow boots coming toward her slowly. "No…." She saw specks of red in the snow. Her blood. She felt another hit again and again and again. This time, the snow was covered in blood. Another body to be hidden beneath the snow. Blood and snow. What a beautiful thought._

* * *

"Crap crap crap crap crap"! Mai yelled to herself as she run across the streets to the SPR building.  
She skidded to a stop and glanced at her watch and sigh "Naru is going to be sooo mad at me for being late again for the billionth time".  
She opened the door slowly trying not to making any noise and poked her head in. Empty. Good Naru and Lin where still in their offices. She slipped in and slowly closed the door behind her making no noise in the office. She tipped -toed past Naru's office. _"So far so good" _she thought as she made it pass Naru's office. She didn't hear Naru's door opening or see the blacked clothes teenager lean against the doorframe watching her with an irritated glare. Naru was waiting for his female assistant to be at work so naturally he was near his door waiting to pounce. Mai made it to her desk as she sat down. She looked up and froze. Standing in the doorway was the ever silent Naru glaring at her. Mai sighed. She knew she wasn't going to get away with being late but she still tried anyways. "Late again, Mai" Naru sighed. "Idiot… You will receive twice as much work to do today and we have a client coming soon so be prepared" he said turning to head back into the office when he noticed something off about Mai. No ranting. Just silence. He looked at her face. Her eyes were baggy and dark underneath. She looked nervous and skittish. She didn't even get mad or turn different shades of red as he insulted her. "…Mai, did you have a dream yesterday when you were sleeping in the office again"? Mai froze quickly from filing her paperwork then continued which was a dead giveaway that Naru was correct but she denied it with a "No". He glared at her for being stupid "…Mai…" She stood up suddenly "You want tea right?" and she hurried past Naru but never made it to the kitchen. Naru grabbed Mai's arm and tugged softly. "You do realize I know when you're lying, Mai". Brown eyes met blue as a flash of worry zipped by in Mai's eyes. "I…I…" There was a sudden knock at the door. Mai sighed in relief and yelled "Coming!" _"Saved by the door"_ she thought as she pulled away from Naru and raced to the door.

She heard an irritated sigh and felt two blue eyes drilling holes in her back as she opened the door. She opened the door to see a young man standing there fidgeting. "Oh..." he looked at Mai. "Is this Shibuya Psychic Research…? I made an appointment earlier… I am Kobo Mayuzumi. "Yes, it is please come in Mr. Mayuzumi" Mayuzumi walked past Mai flashing a weak smile and as she turned around she saw Naru already seated on the couch. Mai walked over to the couch and sat as far away from the irritated Naru as possible. Naru shot her a deadly "we WILL continue our conversation so don't try to run off" glare. "Please explain why you believe your house is haunted Mr. Mayuzumi" Naru said in his monotone voice with still a hint of irritation. "Well, I have heard many voices whispering back and forth to each other, chanting and even singing". "The only other person that lives in the house with me is my wife Iku Mayuzumi so I know it's not her because the voices sound like children or different voices." Naru just nodded. "And…Well…" "And well what Mr. Mayuzumi"? Naru asked before the client could finish. "Well…I know it is in the middle of July but at our house it is constantly snowing as has been since winter started" That caught Naru and Mai's attention. _"Snow…" _Mai thought and shivered violently as clips of her dream were remembered. Naru caught Mai's shiver and looked at her curiously. _"Could this case be related to her dream"? _Naru thought then snapped back to listen to his client. "There have also been reports of missing people near the snowy forest ever since the snow began to fall… I think it is up to about 50 missing people" "_Missing people…dead…hidden in the snow…blood covered snow" _Mai felt sick as she remembered her dream again. _"All those people...missing…dead…in the never-ending snow… blood and snow" _All Mai heard was "We will take the case". She looked over at Naru who closed his black notebook. Mai please get the address and other information from our client then escorted the client out. Mai got up from the couch got the info and then sat at her desk staring blankly at her computer screen. She didn't see Naru edge himself on the edge of her desk glaring daggers at Mai but then softened. She was too lost in thought.

_"I can't go to this place…I can't tell Naru or anyone else. I fell like something terrible is going to happen if I do"._ She flinched as she felt something flick her forehead. _"To get a child to pay attention sometimes you must stoop to their level" _Naru thought.  
She glanced up and was greeted by another flick to the forehead.  
"Ouch, hey what was that for" Another flick.  
"Are you going to tell me why you were lying to me earlier"?  
"Naru...I…" The door bursted open and Monk strolled on in.  
"Hey," he saw Naru flicking Mai in the head. Naru glared at Monk for interrupting him. He was so close to getting Mai to speak but then the idiot monk came in. Mai saw this as her chance to escape. "I am feeling sick so I'm going to leave…bye" Mai slipped out the door and zipped down the street. Monk looked at Naru "See what you did Naru"

Naru glared at monk and sighed "Why are you here"?

"Oh… I left my guitar here" Monk said picking up his guitar from behind the couch.

"We have a case tomorrow so be here early" Naru glared as he watching the monk slip out of the office. Naru knocked on Lin's door "Call everyone to be here at 5:00am and tell Mai to be here at 4:00 maybe then she won't be late". He heard a grunt and then headed back to his office. "Mai is going to be the death of me one day" Naru said as he drove his hand though his thick black hair.


	3. The house in the snow

_Blood and snow. Pure white snow and dark red blood mixing together in the cold night. Once again there will another body hidden in the snow. Once again another person will go missing. Once again blood will blend into the pure white snow, tainting it. Once again the snow will cover the mess left behind. Once again no one will discover the bodies hidden in the forest of blood and snow._

* * *

_Mai shivered as she found herself once again lying in the snow once again. "No...Gene…Gene…where are you? Gene...I don't want to be here anymore ...Help me …Gene"! Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Mai turned to the sound of footsteps in the snow. "Gene…?" Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The sound of footsteps seemed to be getting closer. Mai sees a black clothed figure walking towards her holding something long. "Oh... Gene...Where am I…Can you help me see what's going on…Gene?" The man gets closer and that is when she realizes that this man is not Gene heading towards her but an older man with a heavy dark blue coat, dark pants, and black fuzzy boots carrying a shovel. She crawled away as the man was now closed in on her. She could smell the alcohol lingering on him. He grabbed her tightly around the neck and lifted her in the air with one and then threw her against the tree. He raised the shovel over his head with both hands. "Wait…**STOP**"! Mai knew what was going to happen. She was about to relive the death of a victim. She will feel every pain they felt. Every blow. Feel the blood pouring out of her blood. Gasping the last breath. And there was nothing she could do about it._

_The shovel made a sickening crack as it made contact with Mai. She felt stunned by the pain and even more when she felt the shovel making contact with her again, again, again. "Naru…Gene…Someone…Help-". Blood splattered everywhere on the snow. Tainting it. Staining it red. The man dragged the lifeless body by the hair deeper into the forest. He let go when he came upon a familiar wooden marker in the ground. It looks like someone just shoved a piece of perfectly cut wood in the ground except on the wood the words "blood and snow" were written poorly going down the stick. He began to make a hole with his shovel and when he was satisfied with the hole, he dragged the girl next to the hole and shoved her inside. He sang as he began to bury the girl with dirt and snow.  
**"One down, more to go. In this forest of blood and snow" "Once again, here I go, to bury the body in dirt and snow" "Where they go, oh I don't know". "In this forest of blood and snow".**  
He chuckled as he finished burying the body and whistled the tune he just sung as he walked away into the night._

* * *

Mai awoke, shaking violently and sobbed loudly. "Oh god." she gasped and cried as she tried to forget her dream. She had a headache and felt so much pain. She looked at her clock and wiped the tears from her eyes. "3:03". She staggered out of bed. Her footsteps shaking as she made her way to the bathroom. She undressed as she wanted to take a shower. She gasped as she saw herself in the mirror. She had a hand shape bruise on her neck and several dark purple bruise along her body. "The dream…". She touched one of the bruises and flinched in pain. _"Oh… This is not going to go unnoticed". _She winced as she finished her shower and dug in her drawers for a turtleneck shirt. "There!" She said as she eyed herself in the mirror. Her purple turtleneck covered the bruise on her neck and arms but they still hurt. She put on black pants and glanced at her clock. "3:49" "Crap... I can't be late again". She put on here shoes and grabbed her already packed bags and ran out the door locking it behind her. When she made it she saw Lin loading the equipment into the van. "Hey…Lin…" she panted. Lin glanced at her and smirked "You're early". "What, but you told me to come at 4:00 and its 4:15 now". "Actually…" a monotone voice called from behind Lin. "The arrival time is at 5:00 but since I knew you would be late I told Lin to give you an hour early to get here" Naru smirked as he appeared from behind Lin. "Now that you are here I want you to help Lin pack up the equipment" "Oh.. I don't break anything" Naru Smirk faded as he saw something odd about her face. She looked pale and the bags under her eyes looked worse. Mai turned around walked to a camera on the ground. Naru gave one last worried/angry glare at Mai and turned away with a clip board in hand. Mai sighed and picked up one of the cameras from the ground. She winced as pain shot through her body then she remembered that she was in lots of pain from the bruises. "Something wrong, Mai" Lin questioned glancing at Mai. "Oh, Nope nothing just slept wrong I guess". Mai said stretching and sucking up the pain and began loading the equipment. Naru glare at Mai knowing that she was hiding something but ignored it because she wasn't going to tell him. It bugged him that she doesn't seem to trust him enough to tell him that something is happening to her. He trusted her even though she acted stupid sometimes. He wanted to know what was happening to HIS assistant that made her come to work looking pale and weak. He wanted to help her. He growled at the thought and it retreated to the back of his mind. **"_Hey…. Idiot Scientist…Hello, can you hear me"?!_ **Naru flinched at the voice in his head **_"Gene?" _**Gene responded_ "**Finally… I got ahold of someone..." "I can't get ahold of Mai! Something is blocking me" "Mai is having really bad dreams and you are going to have to keep Mai near you at all cost" "All I know is that the spirit is really strong and it seems to be targeting Mai"**_ Naru glowered at nothing. **"Of course the spirit is strong if it is able to manipulate the weather... Gene and it is not surprising that Mai is being targeted by a spirit".** Naru sighed as he glanced at his assistant has she finished loading the last camera with a small wince and got in the car. Naru rolled his eyes. Another car pulled up with Monk driving. He rolled down the window "Hey; is Mai here yet? We are ready to leave". Naru replied "Yes she is here, for once on time, so let's depart." Without any question Naru hopped in the passenger side of the car and closed the door.

* * *

_**"One down, more to go. In this forest of blood and snow" "Once again, here I go, to bury the body in dirt and snow" "Where they go, oh I don't know, in this forest of blood and snow".** Mai shivered as she opened her eyes to see the killer standing before her singing as he took of his bloody sweater and entered a large house. "He doesn't seem to notice me… good I must just be watching then". Mai watched as the man yawned and entered the kitchen. Mai noticed small orbs floating around and darting all over the place. She heard banging sounds in the house. She looked at the window and almost screamed. She saw many bloody hands thumping against the window **"Blood and snow" "Blood and snow "Blood and snow" "Please help us…" "Please"!** On the window next it a bloody message was written. **"Don't be fooled like us, everything is not as it seems".** She heard singing again and she turned around to the man who holding up a picture frame .He look at it lovingly and then threw it against the wall. It shattered to pieces and the picture fell out. He picked up his bloody shovel and stabbed the picture with it. **"One down, more to go. In this forest of blood and snow" "Once again, here I go, to bury the body in dirt and snow" "Where they go, oh I don't know, in this forest of blood and snow".**_

Mai woke up being shaked awake. She looked to her right as Lin removed his hand from her shoulder "We are here Mai" Everyone is waiting inside". Mai felt stiff and she shrugged off the pain she felt and followed Lin to the house. She froze at the sight around her. Snow. Everywhere. Pure white snow fell from the sky. **_"Blood and snow". "Blood and snow"._** **"Please save us…!"**She shivered as Lin handed her a jacket and gloves that were from her suitcase. _"Wait, they went through my stuff!?" _She shook the thought as she glanced up at the house she was walking towards. She froze on the spot. The house look old and worn down. Covered in dark blue paint to hide the old look from the house put the paint was chipping away. It was big and scary looking. Perfect fit for a haunted house. This house was THE house from her dream. Down to the snowy shovel leaning near the entrance. "Mai…are you coming inside or do you want hypothermia!?" Naru yelled. Mai yipped in surprise and scurried inside the house. Naru closed the door behind, her watching her carefully as they made their way to base.


	4. Once Upon a Haunted Song

**Naru's POV**

The inside of the house was beautiful. Red colored carpet covered the wooden floor. Pictures decorated the walls with a warm comfortable feeling. But my simple-minded assistant was too distracted by the inside of the huge Victorian house to realize that I had stopped in front of her and just watched as she bumped right into me

"S-sorry Naru". Mai said looking up at me with those curious and distracted eyes.

I just sighed and walked up a flight of stairs with my assistant in tow stuttering apologies as she followed. The two-story mansion was huge and Mai probably would get lost in it as soon as she was left alone. I stole a glance at my assistant, who was being unnaturally quiet, and froze. There stood my assistant standing on the last step of the stairs, frozen, unmoving, like a statue.

"Mai?"

Her head hanged low but I could still see that her face was twisted in a horrified and worried look. She looked pale and sick. Like she was about to vomit. Her eyes seemed like they were voiding, just gone. It was obvious that she wasn't there at the moment.

"Mai?" I took a step closer to her. Watching her. She didn't move or even acknowledge that I had called out to her." **Mai!**" I yelled.

Suddenly she flinched like a deer in headlights and her head snapped up like someone had forced her to look up. Those voided look in her eyes disappeared and she looked normal again. When her eyes met mine she just flashed a smile. A fake smile that was masking her dreaded expression. Like nothing happened. Like she wasn't horrified or scared for that brief moment of utter silence. Like it never happened.

"Oh sorry I was spacing out again" She said and bopped herself on the head. She hurried past me and stopped. Another lie.

"Um…Naru which one is my room"?

I glared at her, but the worry kept trying to sneak back into my eyes so I closed them briefly and sighed.

"This one right here is your room, Mai". I said moving out of the way as she scurried inside and closed the door. But not before I shoved my foot in the door. She looked down at my foot and then back up at me though the crack in the door. I glared at her and expected a glare back but she looked at me with an exhausted expression. _Too tired to put up a fight today, huh._

"I expect you to be in the base by 7:00 am so we can discuss what we know about the case from what our client as told us. No later than that or I will start deducting your pay, do you understand Mai. Don't be late." I expected her to complain about the time being too early but she was quite again. Not a word from my normally loud assistant.

"What happened to the clients"? I glared at her stupidity and sighed.

"If bothered to pay attention to the clients yesterday Mai, They said they would not stay be staying with us in the house until the spirit or spirits are gone." No response. Just a nod was all I got from her.

She just nodded and kicked my foot from the crack in the door and closed it. I don't know how long I stood, there glaring at the door, hoping it would open again. But it didn't. So I left.

**Mai's POV**

As soon as I closed the door on Naru, I sunk to my knees and went into the fetal position on the warm red floor. I heard them again. They were whispering again. Or screaming in pain again. Whispering and screaming to the only one who could hear their bloody cries. The screams like I heard on the staircase. Like I heard in the hallway. Crying and screaming. I didn't hear a word Naru had told me. I hear it again. I hear an angelic voice singing a different song than what that man from my dream sings. I hear it again and whisper along with the song. Because I already know the lyrics to the song they all sang. Because they engraved it into me when I entered the house.

**_"Here in this house…. Here in the snow… Here in the cold. On the forest floor._**

**_Here is where we lie…Here is where we died…Here is where we cried. On the forest floor._**

**_Waiting for one more to join us…To join us… Than one more… than one more. On the forest floor."_**

Their lullaby, their song began to put me to sleep as they sang it again and again. On the red carpet floor.


End file.
